"She'd once read a report in National Geographic about the largest caves on Earth, in China, each so large that it was like its own world. Maybe (her) mind...was like this. An immense space, at once apart from the world and embedded within it, a secret place that was strange and dark and vast enough to make its own weather."

"There was only the decision to get up. There was only standing and brushing herself off, only turning and hiking back to her friends whose hoots and laughter carried through the trees, to her friends who were flawed, but yes, living; there was only digging through her bag for the last remnants of high school, throwing them into the fire. As the flames ate the papers to curling black, she knew there was only this, and whatever moment would come after, only...going on and trying, like everyone, to live in this beautiful world."